


New York

by JoMouse



Series: Sterek Week 2019 [2]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Break Up, Canon Compliant, Don't copy to another site, Established Relationship, Future Fic, M/M, Song Lyrics, Sterek Week 2019, Stereklyrics5
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-26
Updated: 2019-10-26
Packaged: 2021-01-13 17:29:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,689
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21188582
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMouse/pseuds/JoMouse
Summary: Ten months have passed since Derek left Stiles behind in Beacon Hills. He calls him and gets his voice mail.





	New York

**Author's Note:**

> Greetings and Salutations!
> 
> It's Day 2 of Sterek Week (Lyrics & Quotes). This fic is inspired by the emotional song [Austin by Blake Shelton](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bb1DTsxBOfE). Most of the voicemail messages are from the song (with adjustments to fit our boys. I really flipping love this song and I hope I've done it justice with this fic.
> 
> Big thanks to [Marie](http://quietzap.tumblr.com) and Jenn for betating for me when I needed it most and for being cheerleaders when I was falling apart at the seams from insecurity. Love you both!
> 
> If you like it, please let me know. Comments and kudos are love and inspiration. 
> 
> xx-Joey
> 
> Don't know 'em. Don't own 'em. Don't show 'em.
> 
> I do not give permission for this work or any of my works to be posted in full or part on any other websites (ie Good Reads). Saying that, I don't mind you sharing links on twitter and/or tumblr and would love if you let me know if you do!!!

Stiles stared at the door long after it had closed. He should've known this day was coming. After they'd defeated the Anuk-ti and Scott started making plans to travel the country to find other supernaturals who were on their own, things between him and Derek had become strained. It seemed like every time he turned around, Scott was sending them to opposite sides of the country and when they were together, they still never had a moment alone.

The last trip Derek had taken to New York changed him even more. He’d returned even more reserved than when they'd first met. The only words he spoke that numbered more than two were about New York, the things he'd missed from when he'd lived there with Laura, the things he'd done when he was there that last time. Stiles had accused him of meeting someone and the fight had devolved from there until Derek had given him a sad look and said he needed to clear his mind, that Beacon Hills had just gotten to be too small, too much for him to handle.

He grabbed his always ready duffel bag and walked out, slamming the door behind him, shaking the house and knocking the picture of the two of them from the road trip they'd taken to return to Beacon Hills for the battle off the wall, shattering the glass and cracking the frame. As Stiles cleaned up the mess, he found Derek's phone sitting on the floor and blinked back tears knowing he had no way of getting in contact with him. It didn't matter, he knew in his heart where he'd gone, he just hoped one day he would come back. Come back to Beacon Hills. Back to him and everything they used to be.

* * *

Derek leaned his forehead against the glass of the window, eyes scanning Central Park. He'd spent many nights in the same place, cell phone in hand, unused. He'd watched the leaves color and fall, snow fill the sky and coat the ground before melting and green creeping up and over until there was an explosion of color. Now he saw the red starting on the leaves of the smallest trees and his heart began aching even more than it had the day he'd left. 

Thumbing open his phone, the contact for Stiles was there and waiting, as it had since the day he'd picked up the new phone and put only Stiles' number into it. That had been ten months earlier when he'd arrived in New York and decided to stay. He'd been so sure it was the right decision, or he had been for about five minutes until the first thing had happened and his first instinct had been to turn to Stiles and tell him, only Stiles wasn’t there. He honestly had no idea where Stiles was, but something told him he was still back in Beacon Hills.

It had taken until now when he'd seen a comic book store with a Captain America shield in the window and thought of the first time he'd seen Stiles in the preserve with Scott looking for a lost inhaler. It was that push that he’d needed and his thumb went from hovering over the little blue call icon and actually brushing it. 

Derek held his breath as it rang three times before going to voicemail and he heard Stiles' voice for the first time since the argument he'd walked out of, ruining everything they'd built while traveling across the country together.

_ "If you're calling about the Jeep, I sold it," _ the message started and Derek choked, thinking about how difficult that decision had to have been for him and wondered what had prompted him to part with the hunk of junk he'd always defended with his life.  _ "If it's Tuesday night, I'm playing baseball with the department. If you've got something to sell, you're wasting your time, I'm not buying."  _ Derek laughed at that, it was so typically Stiles that it simultaneously eased and worsened the ache in his chest. _ "If it's anybody else, you know what to do." _

Derek panicked wondering what he should say. Was there anything he could say to fix what he'd destroyed by running away? He didn't think there was, but then the message continued.

_ "P.S. If this is New York, I still love you." _

The phone tumbled out of Derek's hands as he stumbled away from the window, tripping over his own feet and falling to the floor, landing solidly on his butt. He stared at the phone, distantly hearing the beep before scrambling to hang it up without saying anything. Stiles' words kept playing over and over in his head. He knew that there was a chance Stiles hadn't meant him, but who else would he call New York; he was the only one who knew just how much Derek loved the city.

Getting to his feet, chest tight, he shook off his clothes, feeling the shift come over him, wanting to fall into a simpler mindset, but it wasn't the right choice because his wolf wanted Stiles, missed his smell that no longer lingered on the duffel bag he'd carefully pack for Derek's road trips. He stuck his snout in it, desperate and let out a howl when he was met only with his own scent.

Pacing the apartment, wishing for the first time he wasn't in the city, that he had a place to run free in this form. Shifting back, he dressed in shorts and a Mets tee shirt, slipping into running shoes and heading out to the park. It didn't matter that it was dark, no one would mess with him. A small part of him actually wished that someone would.

Three days later, Derek was back at the window, phone in hand. It hadn't rung once since he'd called Stiles and he convinced himself that meant Stiles didn't know it had been him that had called. A small nagging voice that sounded a lot like Peter said that Stiles did know it was him and that was why he hadn't called. Shaking slightly, he brushed over the call button again.

Three rings and Stiles' voice spoke up again. Derek expected the same message from Tuesday, but it was different.  _ "If it's Friday night, I'm at the lacrosse game. And then first thing Saturday, if the weather's good, I'm going camping down at the lake and I'll be gone all weekend long." _ Derek smiled, wondering if he was going alone or if it was something with Scott. The smile faded when Peter's voice suggested Stiles was going with someone special for a romantic getaway like they used to take.

_ "Leave a message and I'll call you back on Sunday afternoon."  _ Derek took a deep breath, ready to leave the message he'd been playing over and over in his head for the past three days, but the words died when he heard a repeat of Stiles words from the previous message,  _ "P.S. If this is New York, I still love you." _

* * *

Stiles dragged into the house a bit later than he'd planned on Sunday afternoon, tired and angry and ready to scream. The guys' weekend that he'd thought Scott wanted to take ended up being just another job searching for an omega that had crossed into their territory. When he'd realized it, Stiles had disappeared into the woods on his own and then gotten lost trying to get back to his truck that day. 

He was ready to head to bed and stay there until he had to get up to go to work at the station on Tuesday afternoon, but his phone was sitting on the kitchen island and he needed to check his messages and update the outgoing one. He knew it was stupid to keep doing it; the pack still terrorized him for being a lovesick fool, but there was a part of him that couldn't let go of Derek. He’d tried, but every time he met someone else or went out on a date, he was reminded of how much the person wasn’t Derek and how much his heart still belonged to the man. A voice in his head that sounded way too much like Peter Hale called him an idiot every time he added the P.S. to his outgoing messages, but his heart wouldn’t let him give up hope.

Surprisingly, there was only one message when he turned on his phone. It was from the number that had called him on Tuesday leaving a message that was just a loud clatter, then some scrambling before disconnecting. It was from a New York area code and Stiles had hoped it was Derek but didn't want to call it back and find out that it was actually a telemarketer or something. This time the message was only slightly longer and as soon as he heard the voice, tears sprang to his eyes. 

The voice was quiet, almost recognizable, as it left a string of numbers that matched the ones on the screen of Stiles' phone. He didn't even hesitate after the voicemail ended to call the number back, holding his breath as it rang just over two times before picking up.

"If you're calling about my heart, it's still yours. I should have listened to it a little more then it wouldn't have taken me so long to know where I belong. And by the way, Stiles, this isn't a machine you're talking to." Stiles' breath hitched as he realized what was happening. "Can't you tell? This is New York and I still love you."

"You asshole," Stiles responded and they both laughed wetly. "When the hell are you coming home?"

"Is it still home?" Derek asked, the words choked and hopeful.

"This will  _ always  _ be home," Stiles told him. "And even in Beacon Hills with me, you'll always be New York."

Just under two days later, Stiles opened the door to his house and opened his arms to Derek and repeated all those words in person, each one lost in kisses, laughter and joyful tears.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm josjournal over on tumblr. Come say 'Hi!'


End file.
